Budget cut targets most vulnerable

Our citizens with developmental disabilities owe a debt of gratitude to the New York state Senate and Assembly for their leadership. In putting vulnerable people first in the state's budget debate, they are standing tall for what is right and best in us.

To reconcile a rate cut from Washington to the state's institution system, the governor added a last-minute budget amendment, a 6 percent cut to agencies that care for people with developmental disabilities. Yes, there is a budget hole, but agencies clearly do not have 6 percent. A 6 percent cut is not an efficiency; it is care taken away from people who need it.

If the first place we go when the money is tight is to the most vulnerable people, then what does that say about us? Justice for our citizens with disabilities is not a formula handed down to us by federal bureaucrats. It is what we, the people of this Empire State, believe is right. And if, in that conversation, we decide that we need to do things differently, then let's go there together. Not in anger, but with resolve to do the very best we can for the people of our state who need us most.

Through this work, I have seen the great kindness of New York people. That goodness of heart today is well-reflected in our leaders in the state Legislature. Your support of their good work makes our state a better place.

Daniel Lukens

Nanuet

The writer is executive director of Camp Venture Inc.

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Budget cut targets most vulnerable

Our citizens with developmental disabilities owe a debt of gratitude to the New York state Senate and Assembly for their leadership. In putting vulnerable people first in the state's budget debate,